Redmond Phillips - papers, 1937-1993

MLMSS 6936

fonds

1937 - 1993

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Clippings, Photographs

403749

2 boxes - 0.62 Meters
Textual Records
Textual Records - (typescript)
Clippings
Textual Records - (printed)
Photographs

Redmond Phillips, actor and writer, was born in Reefton, New Zealand in 1912. His first involvement with the theatre was as a student at Victoria University in Wellington. Moving to Sydney in the late 1930s he worked as a gag writer for Jack Davey and performed with the Independent Theatre. During the war he served in the army writing material for entertainment units in the Pacific. In 1948 he left for England where he established a successful career as a character actor in the theatre - including the Nottingham Playhouse, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company; and in television in plays for the BBC, and in series such as 'The Avengers', 'Danger Man' and 'Maigret'. He returned to Sydney in 1968 and continued acting, on stage at the Old Tote, in television 'Phoenix Five', 'Spy Force', 'Fields of Fire' and in film 'The Earthling'.

Correspondence, 1968-1990, mainly with publishers (Call No.: MLMSS 6936/1)
Diaries (7), 1948, 1978, 1980, [1981], [1992], and undated; the 1948 diary is an account of voyage from Sydney to New Zealand on the 'Wahine', the voyage from New Zealand to England, via Panama, on the 'Rakaia', and the first months of life in London; the diaries for 1980 and 1992 were kept while living in Sydney; the rest are travel diaries: Italy [1950s?]; France and England, 1978; Ireland, 1978; France [1980s?] (Call No.: MLMSS 6936/1)
Literary papers, [1980s]: poems and stories for children; plays - 'Uncle Billy and the dog lady', 'Back in ten minutes', 'The passionate bunyip (The great Australian drama)'; 'Gracious living' a novel/memoir? set in Sydney in the late 1930s; 'The people on the verandah' - "a collection of sketches, stories and memories of Reefton, a small town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand ..." (Call No.: MLMSS 6936/1)
Miscellaneous papers, 1941-1993, including: theatre programmes; newscuttings - mainly reviews of the 1958 production of Graham Greene's play 'The potting shed' in which Phillips played the role of Father Callifer; a copy of 'Playing with girls' by Julian Prang [Redmond Philips], with drawings by Albert Tucker, Melbourne : Harris and Reed, 1945 (Call No.: MLMSS 6936/1)
Photographs, 1937-1982, mainly of Redmond Phillips in various roles; other actors include: John Gielgud, Albert Finney, Edward Woodward and William Holden (Call No.: MLMSS 6936/2X)